How Femi Otedola convinced his father to run for Lagos governor
When Femi Otedola approached his father, Sir Michael Otedola, and pitched the idea of running for Lagos governor in the 1991 election to him, his father discarded his advice as the words of a drunk child who was ‘high’ on Star lager beer.
The billionaire, who believes God talks through people and he can choose anybody to send His message or do His work, told ThisDay newspaper in 2014 before his father’s death, that he is “a firm believer in destiny and as far as I am concerned it was my father’s destiny to become governor.”
Sir Otedola became the second democratically elected governor of Lagos State between January 1992 and December 1993. He didn’t dream it, his son did. He was enjoying his life after retiring from the public and private services in 1977 and was managing his printing press business in Surulere, Lagos, which was adjudged as one of the biggest in Nigeria at that time, when Femi who appears to be the boisterous among his children convinced him into politics.
He had ample experience that bear testament to Femi’s position that he was qualified to govern Lagos. After joining the service of the Western Region in 1953 as an Information Officer, he worked as Obafemi Awolowo’s Press Secretary.
Sir Otedola went to London to study Journalism at the Regent Street Polytechnic on scholarship. After graduating in 1958, he worked as a news reporter at the St. Pancras Chronicle and The Guardian and later as sub-editor The Times in United Kingdom. He returned to Nigeria in August 1959 and returned to work with the Western Nigeria government as the Editor of the Western Nigeria Illustrated. In 1961 he transited into public relations practice, working for Western Nigeria Television/Western Broadcasting Service (1961-1964). He joined Mobil Oil in 1964 as Public Affairs Manager and was retained as a consultant to Mobil after retiring in May 1977 to start Impact Press.
He was not a man much given to the noise in politics and at 65 he probably didn’t see any reason to dip his hands into the murky water of politics, but Femi thought otherwise and he didn’t relent in persuading Sir Otedola to contest when it was obvious his chances of winning were slim.
“In the early 90s, I said to my father then that he has worked with great politicians like Awolowo, Akintola and that most of his contemporaries were politicians like Alhaji (Lateef) Jakande who was a former Governor of Lagos State and late Bisi Onabanjo, a former Governor of Ogun, who were journalists like him, ‘so why don’t you run for the position?'” Femi recounted how persuaded his father into politics.
“He said I should get out and never discuss such matters with him again because he is not cut out for politics. So we left it at that,” Femi said. “But I went back again after three weeks and this time, he accused me of being drunk on Star beer and warned me for the second time not to come back to him to discuss the issue.”
When Femi Otedola became unrelenting, his father, after threatening to disown him, finally considered his advice, “I persisted because something kept telling me he would be a good candidate for Governor. The third time I tried he warned me again and that, if I ever came back to discuss the issue again he would stop talking to me completely.”
Six months later, he considered the idea of being governor as ‘a brilliant one for him’ and that was how the Michael Otedola Campaign Organisation was set up.
Politics is expensive, funding the campaign became another hurdle the Otedolas had to cross, again Femi, the visionary, took the task of crowdfunding upon himself. “Politics costs money so he started spending a lot of money which was affecting his business. At that time he owned one of the largest printing and packaging industries in Nigeria,” Femi narrated.
Revealing how he sourced for fund to oil the campaign machinery, Femi said he approached people like – Late Chief Wahab Folawiyo, Aliko Dangote, Mike Adenuga, Jimi Lawal who made donations that sustained the campaign and elections.
Despite the heat at the home front – lamentation over funding, the cloud of uncertainty that surrounded the election and Otedola’s ambition, Femi remained calm amid the storm as the motivator.
He recalled how the challenges were threatening the relationship between him, his father and his mother. When Babangida dissolved all political parties and formed two distinct parties National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP). His father called him up at 2am and threatened to disown him for pushing him into politics to ‘waste money’. “My mother had also been complaining about my father going into politics. He wasn’t sleeping as well as he used to,” he recounted.
Femi didn’t lose hope on his vision that his father would govern Lagos, he said he “kept on encouraging him not to worry about the hurdles he might be facing”.
When the two political parties were formed, the family was in another dilemma on where to go. Femi, the visionary, advised his father to join NRC after waiting to hear the parties’ manifestoes.
“He said how can we choose a party because its colour is white? I was adamant about my inclination towards the NRC and he eventually followed my advice,” Femi Otedola recalled.
The NRC was an opposition party in Lagos at that time, his father became jittery that he had made ‘a wrong choice’ and his chances of winning was ‘unrealistic’, but his son (the man with the vision) was strongly convinced that they were on the right path to becoming the next first family in Lagos.
“We found out that we were in the wrong party because the legacy of Awolowo had moved to SDP. My father called me up again to disown me for the second time and complained about wastefulness of the whole exercise. Truthfully, all the while I was confident that he would still become governor,” the business mogul said.
How SDP internal crisis made the unpopular candidate governor
The internal crisis in SDP cemented Femi’s position as a seer. The SDP zoned its governorship candidacy to Epe, the first person who presented himself – Bayo Dejonwo died. In what Femi described as a “crazy twist of fate”, the next aspirant – Senator Femi Ayontuga, also died six months later. Ex-governor Lateef Jakande anointed Dr. Femi Agbalajobi, the decision did not sit well with the other aspirant Dapo Sarumi. When the two warring aspirants refused to embrace peace, the party disqualified them and conducted another primary, but it didn’t quell the animosity in SDP. Chief Yomi Edu emerged as the SDP governorship candidate to the chagrin of Jakande who mobilised his political structure to work for Otedola. Otedola won the election held on December 4, 1991, while the SDP won 26 of the 30 seats in the House of Assembly and NRC won four.
“After his victory, my father called me to his room at night and I asked him ‘Daddy, are you going to disown me again?’ and he said no, in fact ‘you are my son in whom I am well pleased,” Femi Otedola said.
Though his administration was short, some of the achievements of the Otedola’s administration codenamed the ‘Jubilee Projects’ include – Abraham Adesanya Estate in Ajah, Jubilee Estates in Ikorodu, Epe; Jubilee Line Buses launched on August 19, 1992, a model of today’s BRT buses. Otedola constructed the Opebi-Oregun link bridge, Amuwo-Odofin-Festac link bridge; Mushin and Igando General Hospitals. He was also said to have coined the Lagos sobriquet “Centre for Excellence”.
This story was first published on June 8, 2020
Cover design by Tobi Yinka
